Mentorship program for startups offered

Up Global NEXT, a mentorship program organized to help prepare start-up businesses to participate in accelerator programs or for investments, is gearing up to take teams in April.

Companies test their startup idea, get weekly mentorship and grow their network of experts and other founders, according to a news release. The program consists of three-hour weekly sessions for five weeks

The best teams from the program will get invited to a demonstration-day event with accelerators, investors and media.

The program is backed by Startup Weekend, Google for Entrepreneurs, Techstars, and the Global Accelerator Network.

Triangle organizers are John Austin, the director of Groundwork Labs, and Mital Patel, an attorney at Triangle Business Law.

Mentors for this session will be Todd Mosier, chief technology officer at Zone Five Software; David Baxter, founder of Big Pixel; Bill Bing, former founder of Loyalese; Karl Rectanus, co-founder of L(e)arn; and Tim Huntley, entrepreneur in residence at The Startup Factory and founder of Ganymeade Software.

The program, which is being held for the second time in the Triangle, will run for five Wednesdays in April from 6 to 9 p.m. at the hub for entrepreneurs called HQ Raleigh. The cost is $200 for early registrations, according to an email from Austin, and $300 at a later date.

There will be “meet the instructor” information sessions offered in Durham at Groundwork Labs at the American Underground on March 13, and on March 21 in Raleigh.